. >>> tomorrow president obama will host afghan president amid karzai at the white house. the two are scheduled to hold a strategy session about the president's plan to withdraw troops from afghanistan in 2014. the pace of that drawdown is still in question, along with how many troops will remain behind. >>> cheers and chants as syria's president issues a new and defiant call to war. president bashir assad gave a rare address from damascus earlier today. nbc's stephanie gosk is joining us from cairo with the latest on that. good evening, your time, stephanie. what exactly did president assad say, and how is that being received in the region? >> alex, it has been rare to see assad in recent months. this is a momentous occasion, but he didn't really say anything all that new. he did propose a new potential political solution, talking about a new government and reconciliation talks and possibly a new constitution. but it seemed the bulk of what he had to say really proved how almost impossible it would be to reach that end given his other points that he made, including the fa